The 181T Display Up Close

The control buttons
on the very slim bezel are better then the ones on the 171B, but still exhibit
the same problems in dimly lit areas where they are hard to read. The tiny green
LED's look kind of cool and indicate what power stage the display is
in, and what signal input is on focus.

Unfortunately the power button is not back lit,
and is not separated from the other six buttons so it is not immediately obvious from
a visual standpoint. There is a raised dot on the plastic switch so at the very
least there is a tactile indication when you are fumbling around in the
dark trying to find the power button. It would be nice to see
buttons which become back lit when they are pressed, much like those
in cellphones.

The controls consist of six small buttons. From left
to right we have auto, exit, brightness -/+, menu and power.

The rear of the 181T is clean and looks pretty
good. There is a cable way to keep the power and video cables in check, and
since the power supply is integrated into the back of the unit there
is no external power brick. If you look very closely on the lower
right back edge of the display you can see the Kensington lock which has
been integrated into the display for anti-theft purposes.

The center image illustrates what the display
looks like when it is in portrait mode.

The adjustable stand bolts on to the back of the display panel at 100mm
VESA mounting points and can be removed easily. Forwards and backwards tilting is a two handed affair but stiff
enough to prevent the display from gradually slipping. As we mentioned before, the plastic swivel in the base works very poorly. I
really wish Samsung would go back to the metal swivel they used to use - it actually
worked.